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Lexico‐Semantic Attrition of Native Language: Evidence From Russian–Hebrew Bilinguals Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-19 Federico Gallo, Beatriz Bermúdez‐Margaretto, Anastasia Malyshevskaya, Yury Shtyrov, Hamutal Kreiner, Mikhail Pokhoday, Anna Petrova, Andriy Myachykov
Native language (L1) attrition is ubiquitous in modern globalized society, but its cognitive/psycholinguistic mechanisms are poorly understood. We investigated lexico‐semantic L1 attrition in L1 Russian immigrants in Israel, who predominantly use their second language (L2), Hebrew, in daily life. We included Russian monolinguals as a control group. We tested two potential causal mechanisms of attrition:
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Neural Evidence for Syntactic Unification in Second Language Sentence Comprehension: A Time‐Frequency Analysis Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-19 Yoonsang Song, Yu Li, Patrick C. M. Wong
This study investigates whether syntactic unification occurs during online L2 sentence comprehension using time‐frequency analysis. We measured the oscillatory power changes in native English speakers and L1‐Cantonese L2‐English speakers while they were reading well‐formed English sentences, syntactically intact nonsense sentences, and random word lists. Additionally, we conducted traditional ERP analyses
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Order Effects in Second Language Learning Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-17 Laurence Romain, Petar Milin, Dagmar Divjak
We explore how general principles of learning apply to and combine with usage‐based approaches to language learning and teaching, with a focus on the effects of order of exposure to new information in second language (L2) instruction. Although the effects of input spacing and timing on memory and learning have been previously explored (see Rogers, 2020; Shintani, 2017, for an overview), the effects
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Lexical Effects on Second Language Grammar Acquisition: Testing Psycholinguistic and Neurocognitive Predictions Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-13 Holger Hopp, Jana Reifegerste, Michael T. Ullman
Second language (L2) grammar learning is difficult. Two frameworks—the psycholinguistic lexical bottleneck hypothesis and the neurocognitive declarative/procedural model—predict that faster L2 lexical processing should facilitate L2 incidental grammar learning. We tested these predictions in a pretest–posttest syntactic adaptation study of English relative‐clause attachment preferences. First‐language
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“That Was a Good One”: Talking About Irony in Study Abroad Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-12 Rachel L. Shively
Recent research on second or additional language (L2) pragmatics instruction in study abroad has incorporated the technique of encouraging students to gather data about pragmatics, for example, by asking members of the host country to complete questionnaires, practice using pragmatic features, or answer questions about pragmatics (e.g., Hernández, 2021; Mir, 2021). Such studies have reported positive
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Simulating the Relationship Between Nonword Repetition Performance and Vocabulary Growth in 2‐Year‐Olds: Evidence From the Language 0–5 Project Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-09-11 Caroline F. Rowland, Amy Bidgood, Gary Jones, Andrew Jessop, Paula Stinson, Julian M. Pine, Samantha Durrant, Michelle S. Peter
A strong predictor of children's language is performance on non‐word repetition (NWR) tasks. However, the basis of this relationship remains unknown. Some suggest that NWR tasks measure phonological working memory, which then affects language growth. Others argue that children's knowledge of language/language experience affects NWR performance. A complicating factor is that most studies focus on school‐aged
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Mixed‐Effects Modeling with a Multinomial Dependent Variable Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-08-26 Aarnes Gudmestad, Thomas A. Metzger
In this Methods Showcase Article, we illustrate mixed‐effects modeling with a multinomial dependent variable as a means of explaining complexities in language. We model data on future‐time reference in second language Spanish, which consists of a nominal dependent variable that has three levels, measured over 73 participants. We offer step‐by‐step procedures for multinomial logistic regression with
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Declarative and Automatized Phonological Vocabulary Knowledge: Recognition, Recall, Lexicosemantic Judgment, and Listening‐Focused Employability of Second Language Words Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-08-21 Takumi Uchihara, Kazuya Saito, Satsuki Kurokawa, Kotaro Takizawa, Yui Suzukida
This study revisits the roles of different aspects of phonological vocabulary knowledge in second language (L2) listening. Japanese learners of English (n = 114) completed the TOEIC Listening test and three phonological vocabulary tests assessing (a) ability to recognize the meanings of aural forms (meaning recognition), (b) ability to recall the meanings of aural forms (meaning recall), and (c) ability
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Modeling the Effects of Task Repetition in Second Language Writing: Examining Interindividual and Intraindividual Variability Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-08-14 Phil Hiver, Ali H. Al‐Hoorie, Akira Murakami
In this paper, we report a longitudinal study of the effects of procedural task repetition on learners’ task performance (i.e., syntactic complexity in relation to lexical complexity). We investigated how task repetition results in differences at the group and individual level across each task interval (T = 7). Intermediate‐level Saudi learners of English (N = 93) performed a written task biweekly
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Reporting Eye‐Tracking Research in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism: A Synthesis and Field‐Specific Guidelines Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-08-06 Aline Godfroid, Brittany Finch, Joanne Koh
Eye tracking has taken hold in second language acquisition (SLA) and bilingualism as a valuable technique for researching cognitive processes, yet a comprehensive picture of reporting practices is still lacking. Our systematic review addressed this gap. We synthesized 145 empirical eye‐tracking studies, coding for 58 reporting features and applying a gap analysis to the codings. Although certain aspects
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Is Second Language Attrition Inevitable After Instruction Ends? An Exploratory Longitudinal Study of Advanced Instructed Second Language Users Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-08-05 Nicole Tracy‐Ventura, Amanda Huensch, Jonah Katz, Rosamond Mitchell
Most second language acquisition (SLA) research has documented the processes involved in learning second/foreign languages, with few studies focusing on the durability of attained second language (L2) skills once instructed learners/users are no longer receiving formal instruction. The current study examines the effects of continued exposure and peak instructional attainment on the long‐term evolution
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The Role of Cognates and Language Distance in Simultaneous Bilingual Children's Productive Vocabulary Acquisition Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-08-03 Elly Koutamanis, Gerrit Jan Kootstra, Ton Dijkstra, Sharon Unsworth
This study examined the influence of cognate status and language distance on simultaneous bilingual children's vocabulary acquisition. It aimed to tease apart effects of word‐level similarities and language‐level similarities, while also exploring the role of individual‐level variation in age, exposure, and nontarget language proficiency. Children simultaneously acquiring two closely related languages
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Collocation in the Mind: Investigating Collocational Priming in Second Language Speakers of Italian Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Irene Fioravanti, Anna Siyanova‐Chanturia, Alessandro Lenci
Collocational priming is a priming effect induced by collocationally related words; it has been taken to explain the cognitive reality of collocation. Collocational priming has largely been observed in first language (L1) speakers, whereas work on the representation of collocation in a second language (L2) is still limited. In the present study, we sought to investigate this phenomenon in L1 and L2
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Morphological Markedness and the Temporal Dynamics of Gender Agreement Processing in Spanish as a Majority and a Heritage Language Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-07-29 Gregory D. Keating
For Spanish nouns, masculine gender is unmarked and feminine is marked. Effects of markedness on gender agreement processing are inconsistent, possibly owing to differences between online methods. This study presents a reanalysis of eye‐tracking data from Keating's (2022) study on the processing of noun‐adjective gender agreement in speakers of Spanish as a majority and a heritage language. Pairwise
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Syntactic Adaptation and Word Learning in 3‐ to 4‐Year‐Olds Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-07-24 Yukun Yu, Naomi Havron, Cynthia Fisher
In a recent study, preschoolers adapted their syntactic expectations about a familiar phrase in French; this adaptation affected later word learning. In two experiments, we probed the generality of this finding by replicating the experiment and extending it to a different expression in English. We examined the ambiguous phrase the baby, which can be followed by nouns (the baby monkeys) or verbs (the
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Learning Unacceptability: Repeated Exposure to Acceptable Sentences Improves Adult Learners’ Recognition of Unacceptable Sentences Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-06-21 Karina Tachihara, Adele E. Goldberg
Adults learning a new language tend to judge unconventional utterances more leniently than fluent speakers do; ratings on acceptable utterances, however, tend to align more closely with fluent speakers. This asymmetry raises a question as to whether unconventional utterances can be statistically preempted by conventional utterances for adult learners. We report a preregistered study that provided undergraduates
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Verbal Symbols Support Concrete but Enable Abstract Concept Formation: Evidence From Brain‐Constrained Deep Neural Networks Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-20 Fynn R. Dobler, Malte R. Henningsen‐Schomers, Friedemann Pulvermüller
Concrete symbols (e.g., sun, run) can be learned in the context of objects and actions, thereby grounding their meaning in the world. However, it is controversial whether a comparable avenue to semantic learning exists for abstract symbols (e.g., democracy). When we simulated the putative brain mechanisms of conceptual/semantic grounding using brain‐constrained deep neural networks, the learning of
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Do Implicit Learning Deficit and Dyslexia Go Together? An fMRI and Behavioral Study Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-13 Marta Wójcik, Joanna Beck, Katarzyna Chyl, Agnieszka Dynak, Gabriela Dzięgiel‐Fivet, Magdalena Łuniewska, Anna Grabowska, Katarzyna Jednoróg, Agnieszka Dębska
What is the relationship between literacy skills and implicit learning? To address previous mixed findings, we compared school‐aged readers, typical (CON, n = 54) and with dyslexia (DYS, n = 53), in relation to their performance on a serial reaction time task. For the first time, we also included an isolated spelling deficit group (ISD, n = 30) to control for distinctive effects of reading and spelling
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Electrophysiological Evidence for a Whorfian Double Dissociation of Categorical Perception Across Two Languages Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-11 Aina Casaponsa, M. Acebo García‐Guerrero, Alejandro Martínez, Natalia Ojeda, Guillaume Thierry, Panos Athanasopoulos
Taza in Spanish refers to cups and mugs in English, whereas glass refers to different glass types in Spanish: copa and vaso. It is still unclear whether such categorical distinctions induce early perceptual differences in speakers of different languages. In this study, for the first time, we report symmetrical effects of terminology on preattentive indices of categorical perception across languages
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The Effect of COVID‐Related Quarantine and Attitudes on Time Conceptualization: Evidence From Temporal Focus and Implicit Space‐Time Mappings Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-07 Panos Athanasopoulos, Rui Su
The temporal focus hypothesis (TFH) entails that individuals who value the past tend to conceptualize it in front, whereas individuals who value the future tend to map the future in front instead (de la Fuente et al., 2014). This varies as a function of culture, individual differences, and context. Here, we extend this line of inquiry by testing a contextual variable, namely COVID‐19 quarantine status
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Sensitivity to Subphonemic Differences in First Language Predicts Vocabulary Size in a Foreign Language Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-07 Efthymia C. Kapnoula, Arthur G. Samuel
Some listeners exhibit higher sensitivity to subphonemic acoustic differences (i.e., higher speech gradiency). Here, we asked whether higher gradiency in a listener's first language (L1) facilitates foreign language learning and explored the possible sources of individual differences in L1 gradiency. To address these questions, we tested 164 native Spanish speakers with different linguistic profiles
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Proactive Language Learning Theory Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-04 Mostafa Papi, Phil Hiver
Second language acquisition theory has traditionally focused on the cognitive and psycholinguistic processes involved in additional language (L2) learning. In addition, research on learner psychology has primarily centered on learners’ cognitive abilities (e.g., aptitude and working memory) and internal traits or states (e.g., dispositions, motivations, and affect). Language learning behavior, however
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Active Language Modulates Color Perception in Bilinguals Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-02 Akvile Sinkeviciute, Julien Mayor, Mila Dimitrova Vulchanova, Natalia Kartushina
Color terms divide the color spectrum differently across languages. Previous studies have reported that speakers of languages that have different words for light and dark blue (e.g., Russian siniy and goluboy) discriminate color chips sampled from these two linguistic categories faster than speakers of languages that use one basic color term for blue (e.g., English blue). This effect has been reported
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Correction to ‘Community, Equity, and Cultural Change in Open Research: A Response to Open Peer Commentaries’ Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-05-02
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Improving Second Language Vowel Production With Hand Gestures Encoding Visible Articulation: Evidence From Picture‐Naming and Paragraph‐Reading Tasks Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-30 Xiaotong Xi, Peng Li, Pilar Prieto
This study investigates whether audiovisual phonetic training with hand gestures encoding visible or nonvisible articulation features has a differential impact on learning second language sounds. Ninety‐nine Catalan–Spanish bilingual students were trained to differentiate English /æ/ and /ʌ/, which differ in the visible lip aperture and nonvisible tongue position, with training involving no gestures
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An Introduction to the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Embodiment and Relativity Special Issue of the Language Learning Cognitive Neuroscience Series Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Guillaume Thierry, Rasha Abdel Rahman, Panos Athanasopoulos
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Inducing Shifts in Attentional and Preattentive Visual Processing Through Brief Training on Novel Grammatical Morphemes: An Event‐Related Potential Study Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Yuyan Xue, John Williams
Can brief training on novel grammatical morphemes influence visual processing of nonlinguistic stimuli? If so, how deep is this effect? Here, an experimental group learned two novel morphemes highlighting the familiar concept of transitivity in sentences; a control group was exposed to the same input but with the novel morphemes used interchangeably. Subsequently, both groups performed two visual oddball
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Iconicity and Gesture Jointly Facilitate Learning of Second Language Signs at First Exposure in Hearing Nonsigners Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Dilay Z. Karadöller, David Peeters, Francie Manhardt, Aslı Özyürek, Gerardo Ortega
When learning spoken second language (L2), words overlapping in form and meaning with one's native language (L1) help break into the new language. When nonsigning speakers learn a sign language as L2, such overlaps are absent because of the modality differences (L1: speech, L2: sign). In such cases, nonsigning speakers might use iconic form‐meaning mappings in signs or their own gestural experience
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Embodiment for Spatial Metaphors of Abstract Concepts Differs Across Languages in Chinese–English Bilinguals Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-05 Yu Fen Wei, Wen Wen Yang, Gary Oppenheim, Jie Hui Hu, Guillaume Thierry
Embodied cognition posits that processing concepts requires sensorimotor activation. Previous research has shown that perceived power is spatially embodied along the vertical axis. However, it is unclear whether such mapping applies equally in the two languages of bilinguals. Using event‐related potentials, we compared spatial embodiment correlates in participants reporting the source of auditory words
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Crosslinguistic Differences in Food Labels Do Not Yield Differences in Taste Perception Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-04 Emanuel Bylund, Steven Samuel, Panos Athanasopoulos
Research has shown that speakers of different languages may differ in their cognitive and perceptual processing of reality. A common denominator of this line of investigation has been its reliance on the sensory domain of vision. The aim of our study was to extend the scope to a new sense—taste. Using as a starting point crosslinguistic differences in the category boundaries of edible bulbs, we examined
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Does Early Unit Size Impact the Formation of Linguistic Predictions? Grammatical Gender as a Case Study Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-02 Rana Abu‐Zhaya, Inbal Arnon
Making adults learn from larger linguistic units can facilitate learning article–noun agreement. Here we ask whether initial exposure to larger units improves learning by increasing the predictive associations between the article and noun. Using an artificial language learning paradigm, we taught 106 Hebrew‐speaking participants novel article–noun associations with either segmented input first or unsegmented
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Willingness to Communicate, Speaking Self‐Efficacy, and Perceived Communicative Competence as Predictors of Second Language Spoken Task Production Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-29 Paul Leeming, Joseph P. Vitta, Phil Hiver, Dillon Hicks, Stuart McLean, Christopher Nicklin
This study investigated how students’ self‐reported individual differences predicted second language (L2) spoken discussion task output, an objective behavioral outcome, in the Japanese university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. Although numerous psychological theories are used as a rationale for task‐based language teaching (TBLT), few studies have investigated the impact of individual
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Awakening the Proto‐Lexicon: A Proto‐Lexicon Gives Learning Advantages for Intentionally Learning a Language Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-29 Wakayo Mattingley, Forrest Panther, Simon Todd, Jeanette King, Jennifer Hay, Peter J. Keegan
Previous studies report that exposure to the Māori language on a regular basis allows New Zealand adults who cannot speak Māori to build a proto‐lexicon of Māori—an implicit memory of word forms without detailed knowledge of meaning. How might this knowledge feed into explicit language learning? Is it possible to “awaken” the proto‐lexicon in the context of overt language learning? We investigate whether
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Event Boundaries Stretched and Compressed by Aspect: Temporal Segmentation in a First and a Second Language Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-29 Norbert Vanek, Haoruo Zhang
Event segmentation tests have shown substantial overlaps in how adults recognize starts and endpoints as events unfold. However, far less is known about what role different language systems play in the process. Variations in grammatical aspect have been shown to influence event processing. We tested how closely first language (L1) speakers of Mandarin and English versus Mandarin learners of English
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Does Studying Latin in Secondary Education Predict Study Achievement in Academic Higher Education? Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-28 Cathy Hauspie, Stijn Schelfhout, Nicolas Dirix, Lot Fonteyne, Mark Janse, Arnaud Szmalec, Alexandra Vereeck, Wouter Duyck
Studying Latin in secondary education is still widespread in Europe and believed to result in cognitive benefits, even beyond the linguistic domain. In this study we explored the relation between such study and later academic achievement in higher education (N = 1,898). First, we demonstrated that Latin students exhibit increased levels of study achievement in higher education, particularly in study
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Transient and Long‐Term Linguistic Influences on Visual Perception: Shifting Brain Dynamics With Memory Consolidation Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-21 Martin Maier, Rasha Abdel Rahman
Linguistic categories can impact visual perception. For instance, learning that two objects have different names can enhance their discriminability. Previous studies have identified a typical pattern of categorical perception, characterized by faster discrimination of stimuli from different categories, a neural mismatch response during early visual processing (100–200 ms), and effects restricted to
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Signature Dynamics of Development in Second Language Sociolinguistic Competence: Evidence From an Intensive Microlongitudinal Study Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Mason A. Wirtz, Simone E. Pfenninger
This study is the first to explore microdevelopment in sociolinguistic evaluative judgments of standard German and Austro‐Bavarian dialect by adult second language learners of German by using dense time serial measurements. Intensive longitudinal data (10 observations per participant) were collected from four learners at approximately weekly intervals over 3 months. We employed generalized additive
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Redundancy and Complementarity in Language and the Environment: How Intermodal Information Is Combined to Constrain Learning Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Padraic Monaghan, Heather Murray, Heiko Holz
To acquire language, learners have to map the language onto the environment, but languages vary as to how much information they include to constrain how a sentence relates to the world. We investigated the conditions under which information within the language and the environment is combined for learning. In a cross‐situational artificial language learning study, participants listened to transitive
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Measuring Lexical Diversity in Texts: The Twofold Length Problem Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-02-08 Yves Bestgen
The impact of text length on the estimation of lexical diversity has captured the attention of the scientific community for more than a century. Numerous indices have been proposed, and many studies have been conducted to evaluate them, but the problem remains. This methodological review provides a critical analysis not only of the most commonly used indices in language learning studies, but also of
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Unraveling the Complexities of Second Language Lexical Stress Processing: The Impact of First Language Transfer, Second Language Proficiency, and Exposure Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-01-16 Nuria Sagarra, Laura Fernández-Arroyo, Cristina Lozano-Argüelles, Joseph V. Casillas
We investigated the role of cue weighting, second language (L2) proficiency, and L2 daily exposure in L2 learning of suprasegmentals different from the first language (L1), using eye-tracking. Spanish monolinguals, English–Spanish learners, and Mandarin–Spanish learners saw a paroxytone and an oxytone verb (e.g., FIRma–firMÓ “s/he signs–signed”), listened to a sentence containing one of the verbs,
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Toddlers’ Verb-Marking Errors Are Predicted by the Relative Frequency of Uninflected Sequences in Well-Formed Child-Directed Speech: A Preregistered Corpus Analysis Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2024-01-08 Hannah Sawyer, Colin Bannard, Julian Pine
Verb-marking errors such as she play football and daddy singing are a hallmark feature of English-speaking children's speech. We investigated the proposal that these errors are input-driven errors of commission arising from the high relative frequency of subject + unmarked verb sequences in well-formed child-directed speech. We tested this proposal via a preregistered corpus analysis and asked at what
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Effects of Form-Focused Practice and Feedback: A Multisite Replication Study of Yang and Lyster (2010) Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-29 Nadia Mifka-Profozic, Jennifer Behney, Susan M. Gass, Marijana Macis, Gaia Chiuchiù, Giulia Bovolenta
We conducted a multisite replication of Yang and Lyster's (2010) study investigating the effects of recasts and prompts on learning English regular and irregular past tense. Our study was conducted with intact high school and vocational school classes in Italy and Bosnia. Our participants were young adolescents (14–15 and 16–17 years old), a population that has been largely ignored in second language
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Unknown Vocabulary Density and Reading Comprehension: Replicating Hu and Nation (2000) Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Benjamin Kremmel, Bimali Indrarathne, Judit Kormos, Shungo Suzuki
Hu and Nation's (2000) study, which stipulated that second language (L2) readers need to be familiar with 98% of lexical items for adequate text comprehension, has become highly influential in L2 vocabulary research and pedagogy. However, the 98% critical threshold figure is based on findings from a research project in which a regression analysis was conducted with only 66 university students in New
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Repetition and Incidental Learning of Multiword Units: A Conceptual Multisite Replication Study of Webb, Newton, and Chang (2013) Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Elke Peters, Eva Puimège, Paweł Szudarski
This multisite study replicates Webb, Newton, and Chang's (2013) study on the effect of repetition on incidental learning of multiword units (MWUs). Even though more researchers have started to investigate MWUs, most data have been collected from university students. Furthermore, the large effect of MWU repetition on learning reported by Webb et al. has not yet been corroborated. Data in our study
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Uncovering Sampling Biases, Advancing Inclusivity, and Rethinking Theoretical Accounts in Second Language Acquisition: Introduction to the Special Issue SLA for All? Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-23 Aline Godfroid, Sible Andringa
The social sciences have grappled with sampling biases, perhaps most notably the prevalent reliance on convenience samples drawn from university student populations. Researchers in second language acquisition (SLA) have likewise taken steps to assess and address the scope of these biases and their effects on theory construction. This special issue presents a collection of replications and registered
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L2 Learners’ Signed Language Processing Relates, In Part, to Perspective-Taking Skills Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-23 David Quinto-Pozos, Taylor Renee Joyce, Abhra Sarkar, Michael DiLeo, Lynn Hou
The comprehension of signed language requires linguistic and visual–spatial processing, such as perspective-taking for correctly interpreting the layout of a spatial scene. However, little is known about how adult second-language (L2) learners process visual–spatial constructions in a signed language that they are studying, including which angles of viewing are most challenging to process and whether
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Bilectal Exposure Modulates Neural Signatures to Conflicting Grammatical Properties: Norway as a Natural Laboratory Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Maki Kubota, Jorge González Alonso, Merete Anderssen, Isabel Nadine Jensen, Alicia Luque, Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares, Yanina Prystauka, Øystein A. Vangsnes, Jade Jørgen Sandstedt, Jason Rothman
The current study investigated gender (control) and number (target) agreement processing in Northern and non-Northern Norwegians living in Northern Norway. Participants varied in exposure to Northern Norwegian (NN) dialect(s), where number marking differs from most other Norwegian dialects. In a comprehension task involving reading NN dialect writing, P600 effects for number agreement were significantly
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Using Parent Report to Measure Vocabulary in Young Bilingual Children: A Scoping Review Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-21 Adriana Weisleder, Margaret Friend, Angeline Sin Mei Tsui, Virginia A. Marchman
A large number of children are exposed to more than one language. One well-established method of assessing early vocabulary development in monolingual children is parent report; however, its use in bilingual/multilingual contexts is less established and brings unique challenges. In this methodological scoping review, we reviewed studies of early vocabulary development using parent report with bilingual/multilingual
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Measuring Teenage Learners’ Automatized, Explicit, and/or Implicit Knowledge: A Question of Context? Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-21 Alexandra Schurz
The present study administered six test instruments to 13- to 14-year-old learners of English in Austria and Sweden (N = 213), countries offering settings with more explicit and implicit learning environments, respectively. Confirmatory Factor Analyses for Austria yielded a factor comprising timed grammaticality judgment tests, an oral narrative test, and elicited imitation, labelled in this study
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Self-Repair in Hearing L2 Learners’ Spontaneous Signing: A Developmental Study Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-11-07 Johanna Mesch, Krister Schönström
This study presents a corpus-based investigation of self-repairs in hearing adult L2 (M2L2, second modality and second language) learners of Swedish Sign Language (Svenskt teckenspråk, STS). This study analyses M2L2 learners’ STS conversations with a deaf signer and examines the learners’ self-repair practices and whether there are differences among learners of different proficiency levels. This provides
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The Acquisition of Strategies to Express Plurality in Hearing Second Language Learners of Sign Language of the Netherlands Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-30 Eveline Boers-Visker
This study reports on strategies to indicate plural referents in hearing learners of Sign Language of the Netherlands. This is the first explorative study that focuses on L2 expressions of plurality in a sign language. Using data from two datasets, I examined when learners start to express plural and which strategies they apply, and I noted typical learner characteristics. The first study examined
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The Neurocognitive Underpinnings of Second Language Processing: Knowledge Gains from the Past and Future Outlook: A Response to Open Peer Commentaries Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-25 Janet G. van Hell
Writing a review of the neural underpinnings of second language (L2) learning and processing, with a serious eye to future avenues for research, is among the most fun writing invitations that I have ever received. If not curtailed by Language Learning’s word limit, this article would have become a full issue, or even a book! I am thrilled that my passion for this field and enthusiasm for the future
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Learning Without Awareness by Academic and Nonacademic Samples: An Individual Differences Study Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-25 Kathy MinHye Kim, Ryo Maie, Kiyo Suga, Zachary F. Miller, Bronson Hui
This study addresses the role of awareness in learning and the variables that may facilitate adult second language (L2) implicit learning. We replicated Williams's (2005) study with a similar group of academic learners enrolled at university as well as a group of non-college-educated adults in order to explore the generalizability of the findings to an underrepresented population in research on L2
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Introduction to the Special Issue: Learning Sign Languages as Additional Languages: Considering Language- and Modality-Specific Factors Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-21 Russell S. Rosen, David Quinto-Pozos
Additional language (L2/Ln) research largely focuses on learners whose first languages are spoken and who are learning additional spoken languages. In the past few decades, sign languages have become increasingly popular for hearing students in schools. These students must not only learn the vocabulary and grammar of sign languages but also manage a different modality (that is, the channels of production
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Student Outcomes, Perspectives, and Experiences in Traditional and Flipped L2 American Sign Language Classrooms: A Partial Replication Study Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-15 Jody H. Cripps, Russell S. Rosen, Aimee M. Sever-Hall, Sheryl B. Cooper, Ronald Fenicle
Foreign language classrooms have historically used classroom lecture-based approaches for instruction. However, the flipped pedagogical approach was recently introduced into foreign language and other classrooms. Studies of the flipped classroom approach in spoken L2 classrooms have generally found a positive impact on student learning outcomes, perceptions and satisfaction compared with the traditional
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The Role of Modality in L2 Learning: The Importance of Learners Acquiring a Second Sign Language (M2L2 and M1L2 Learners) Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-10-10 Deborah Chen Pichler, Elena Koulidobrova
Second language acquisition (SLA) research offers valuable insight on how languages are learned and how they coexist and influence each other. Sign language learners offer unique perspectives on SLA, allowing researchers to test theories that are otherwise constrained by access to only one modality. Current literature on sign language learning focuses primarily on bimodal bilinguals, mostly hearing
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The Evolution of Science in Second Language Acquisition Research: A Commentary on “The Neurocognitive Underpinnings of Second Language Processing: Knowledge Gains From the Past and Future Outlook” Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-07-25 Viorica Marian
In 1998, while at a symposium in New York City organized by applied linguist Professor Aneta Pavlenko, I was introduced to one of the other panelists whose last name started with “Van” and who turned out to be from the same small village in the Netherlands as my Dutch in-laws. That day, a professional camaraderie was born, one that saw us reconnecting at conferences and meetings in many countries and
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Neural Basis of Second Language Speech Learning – Past and Future: A Commentary on “The Neurocognitive Underpinnings of Second Language Processing: Knowledge Gains From the Past and Future Outlook” Lang. Learn. (IF 3.5) Pub Date : 2023-07-25 Patrick C. M. Wong
The state-of-the-art article by van Hell provided an excellent overview of the current state of the science in the neural and neurocognitive basis of second language (L2) processing and learning. While the target article devoted much effort to reviewing studies related to the syntactic and semantic components of language and to a lesser extent to the lexicon, it is important to also consider the phonetic